Finding Radiance » New Orleans

From shore to boat

Lori — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:37:00 +0000

Our last morning in N’awlins! We did a run along the Riverwalk and a little through the French Quarter, maybe 2.5 miles or so. Then stopped at Croissant D’Or patisserie, one of our favorite places. It’s a very old building.

I love how it is full of subway tile, ornate molding, and stained glass:

Had an almond croissant, and then we split a piece of King cake. Croissant D’Or does them a little different. They are more flaky pastry, rather than yeast cake:

We then spent the morning taking in the sites and just enjoying the Quarter before boarding the cruise ship. There was a jazz group playing in the streets, which is very common.

Many times these street groups are so good, you just can’t believe it. This is Royal St, which is full of antique shops and upscale boutiques. This road is barracaded off during the day for the shoppers, which is why the groups set up in the street.

Time for lunch and had another New Orleans staple – Jambalaya!

Rice with chicken, shrimp, andouille sausage and tomatoes. This was really good.

Before picking up our luggage, we stopped at CC’s coffee and had some chickory cafe au lait and a praline!

Time to board the boat!

Pictures just cannot show how enormous and vast this ship is. The boat holds 2800 people. Huge line to check in :

Finally on the boat. We have a really nice cabin. We actually have a window!

And a couch:

I was soooo happy to see this for dinner!

I was dying for fresh fruit and veggies! I love the food in New Orleans, but it is very difficult to find fruits and veggies on any menu (at least in the Quarter). Just can’t eat that rich food for very long any more.

I filled up my plate with all the fresh goodness.

Of course, I had to have a little dessert to go with:

Then we checked out the fitness center on the boat. It’s really nice and includes a sauna and steam room, plus a bunch of equipment and free weights! Yay!

That was a busy Monday, that’s for sure! Tuesday is a day at sea before we get to Progreso (Mexico, not the soup). I’ll showcase more boat photos then.

Beignets and boats

Lori — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:20:47 +0000

I cannot believe all that we crammed into today. After that breakfast at CC’s this morning, we headed out to the French Market:

I found fresh fruit!

This market has everything from fresh foods to handmade items to total made in China junk. It’s a gamut! I got a couple souvies for myself.

Our lunch stop today was the Praline Connection in Faubourg Marigny. John and I split a cup of Gumbo Zaire, which had crawfish and greens in it. Plus a side of homemade cornbread:

Excellent soup. I have only had greens once in my life at home, and never in soup. Quite good!

Then some red beans and rice:

These were decent, but I think they needed some sausage or something. After eating, I picked up a couple pralines at the attached candy shop. Didn’t get those pictured, though. Bad blogger.

We did some strolling around. Passed by the most photographed place in New Orleans, so I will add to that tally:

The famous cornstalk fence. I wonder how nice this hotel is inside. It is very beautiful outside.

Then a stroll around the Riverwalk, where one of the paddleboats was on it’s way out:

Some beignet snackage happened near here

As we were doing some browsing, we bumped into another parade! This was some sort of cross dressing/Saints celebration parade.

There were so many people! It was crazy. John wanted to rest, so we headed back to the hotel, but then I popped back out because I really wanted to try an absinthe drink. The place to get that is the The Olde Absinthe House. This was a strange green brew that had a strong anise flavor and something else I couldn’t put my finger on.

This was really strong and hit me like a ton of bricks! Now that I have tried one, I don’t think I will ever have another.

We have walked so many miles today. Too bad it isn’t enough to burn off all the food! LOL!

We had some trouble deciding on where to have dinner, but ended up at Deanies. This was a most excellent choice! It has a bit of a retro feel to it:

Our server brought us out not bread, but some boiled cajun spice potatoes:

These were fun! John and I decided to split an appetizer and then split an entree. That helps with budget, but also because of portion sizes. We started with some grilled oysters:

Topped with garlic butter and parmesan cheese. Yum! Our entree was a crawfish quartet. It had crawfish balls, etouffee, au gratin, and some fried crawfish.

We didn’t bother eating the fries. They were good, but I didn’t want to wast stomach room on them LOL! This picture isn’t the best – but this was the best meal

Listened to some great Dixieland music tonight. There is always something wonderful going on in this town! Tomorrow we will spend some more time in the city and then board the cruise ship. Guest post coming up tomorrow, so please enjoy.

Hola from NOLA !!

Lori — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:14:10 +0000

Hey everyone! We made it safely to New Orleans despite last minute snafus of a tenant with a nonworking furnace late Friday night and a bloody nose in the morning. Great way to start a vacation, right?

We are staying at the Place D’Armes Hotel in the French Quarter. I love this place because it really fits into the Quarter style wise and it is very reasonable. Not to mention being easy to walk everywhere!

It was pretty cold here on Saturday – 40 degrees (which was 45 degrees *warmer* than what we left behind)

We were ready for dinner and hit up a classic business district place:

Mother’s! Always crowded, but the line went really quick. We split a bowl of crawfish etouffee:

Yum! Plus we split the house specialty the Famous Ferdi Special, which is a sandwich with ham, roast beef and debris, which is a mix of shredded roast beef and gravy left over from the roasting process. This was a rich tasting sandwich and sooooooooo goood!

Very tasty sandwich, I have to say.

We were lucky enough to catch a parade Saturday night!

It was the

Krewe de Vieux parade

This is one of the only big parades that goes right through the French Quarter (and a block from our hotel). I love the parades here because you get involved in them. The parade people toss out trinkets, beads, and souvenirs. This parade can get political and quite racy, I have to say LOL! It was funny, though.

And Who D’at????? This city is soooo proud of it’s Saints. Here is a take on that with this float.

Here is my collection of stuff tossed to me at the parade (it was sooo cold, too)

Then we had some beignets! Cafe du Monde had an enormous line, so we went to Cafe Beignet instead:

So good. Although du Monde is better, I think.

This morning, I was all ready for a run!

John, not so much:

We headed out for a 30 minute run all around the Quarter. I would have gone farther, but John hasn’t run since the end of October!

Then we hit up CC’s Community Coffee for some brekkie. John decided to get a piece of praline king cake:

Richly decadent and more like dessert. I decided to have a Sunday staple:

With some damn good coffee. Now we all ready to do some sightseeing and more eating! I’ll be back tonight. I love free internet access in the hotel!

Flashback Friday

Lori — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:30:00 +0000

I cannot wait for tomorrow and the trip! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!

But first, on to the workout for this morning.

I needed a really good workout today because tomorrow is travel day:

1 mile of jogging for a warm up, then the weights:

Chin ups: 2 sets of 3, 1 set of 2
Barbell Split Squat: 3 sets of 8 at 65 pounds
Cable squat to row: 3 sets of 10 at 50 pounds (LOVE!!)
Arnold Press: 3 sets of 10 at 12# DBs
1-legged dumbbell deadlift: 3 sets of 10 with 15# DBs
Bench Dips: 3 sets of 10
Push ups: 3 sets of 10
Trunk Twist: 3 sets of 10 with 10# plate

Then I hit the treadmill for a 2 mile run. Awesome start to my vacation!

I am foregoing the food today to do a flashback Friday post a la Janetha. Thinking about the last time I was in New Orleans with my sister last January. We did a whirlwind girl’s only weekend there. There was some of this:

And some of this:

A lot of these:

Running along here:

Being cool:

Enjoyed ~~a bunch~~ one of these:

Getting ready for Mardi Gras:

Pondering the cemeteries:

Nursing one of these:

And we ended the weekend looking like this:

It’ll be a little different this time because I will have a husband in tow

I’ll be posting a few times during the trip – please enjoy the guest posts set up during the week. They are all wonderful!

Gotta go pack now!

New Orleans fun

Lori — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:12:00 +0000

I have to say I just love New Orleans. It’s so much more than Bourbon street. The French Quarter is by far my favorite area. The architecture, the food, the people – it’s wonderful.

These are some pictures of the area and the food! You can read more details about the food on my food blog over the next few days as I organize the photos.
The first thing we did was hit Cafe du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait. I won’t tell you how many times we went here over the 4 days .

I’m very taken with the shotgun houses there:

The beautiful Moonwalk along the Mississippi, where we went jogging:

This year is the 100 year anniversary of the Zulu krewe, and they were having a big party the night we got there. It was an outdoor black tie event, and some of the Mardi Gras parade props were out. They are huge!

Parades pop up out of seemingly nowhere during the Mardi Gras season. After dinner, there was this outside:

The ubiquitous tshirt shops, which my sister couldn’t get enough photos of for some reason:

St Louis Cemetery 1 – the above ground cemeteries are very fascinating here. They are like miniature cities.

Probably *the* best thing we ate all weekend: Chocolate bread pudding with dark and white chocolate sauce:

So much more to this city. I really think I could live here.

Back from the Big Easy!

Lori — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:46:00 +0000

Just got back this morning. One of the legs of our flight was canceled due to weather in Chitown, so we had to stay last night as well.

We had an awesome time!
I ate way too much, but it was so good!
I love New Orleans. My sister hadn’t ever been, so I was the tour guide of things to do, see, and eat

Lots of food, but we did jog for a 1/2 hour each morning (at around 6:30 am!!), plus tons and tons of walking. And the hotel we were in last night had free weights, so got in a weight workout, too! My first in a week.

I’ll be posting some pics later, I’ve been up since 3:15 am, and I am beat!